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Show 1882.] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ^ELUROIDEA. 141 It has been proposed to separate off as a distinct genus the Cats with a vertical pupil and an orbit inclosed behind by bone, and to divide the round-pupilled Cats into two genera, according to the presence or absence of a first upper premolar. ^ These characters do not appear to me capable of serving as marks of generic distinctness. Some Cats-as F. macrocelis, F. serval, and F. chaus-are described as having a pupil neither round nor linear when contracted, but oblong; and while in most of the smaller Cats in which the point has been ascertained the pupil is linear, in some, as F. eyra, it is round. The length of the postorbital processes varies even in the same species, and much more in forms which must be connected as close allies ; while the morphologically second upper premolar may also be present or absent in the same species, as in F. scripta, F. pajeros, and others, while in F. planiceps it is large and two-rooted. In the skull of an old Lion1 I have found the upper two molars not only absent, but every trace of their alveoli also. The ears of the Lynxes are pencilled, but those of JF. chaus, F. ornata, and F. caudata are more or less pencilled likewise. The Lion stands alone with its large mane (though the Ounce has a small one), and the Tiger is distinguished from every other Cat by its stripes ; but these no one would take to be generic distinctions. W e might indeed separate off the Lion, Puma, Jaguar, Eyra, F. aurata, F. planiceps, F. badia, and F. rutila as Cats of a uniform colour, neither spotted nor striped when adult. The group, however, would not be a natural one. Similarly, we might associate together the most distinctly spotted Cats, while distinguishing others (as F. marmorata, F. macrocelis, F. megalotis, F. pajeros, F. cali-gata, F. manul, F. neglecta, F. torquata, and F. catus) as rather "clouded" than "spotted." Almost every transition, however, exists between the spotted and clouded Cats, and some spotted forms occasionally have their spots very slightly marked ; so that generic distinctions reposing on any such characters would be most futile. It is not the object of this paper to define species; nevertheless the question as to the distinctness of certain of them will have to be occasionally considered. I may therefore perhaps be excused for remarking that I have examined a large quantity of skins of the Lynxes known as F. borealis, F. canadensis, F. rufa, and F. maculata, and found amongst them so very many intermediate conditions as to both coloration (ground-colour and markings) and length of fur, that I cannot but regard them as forming but a single species. This opinion is also confirmed by the close resemblance which exists between their skulls. As to the Lynx F. isabellina, I was at first inclined to regard it as a good species ; but Dr. Scully has very kindly allowed me to examine the skins obtained by him in Central Asia, and amongst them is one intermediate in coloration between the F. isabellina of the British Museum and certain specimens of the Northern Lynx. The Pardine Lynx (F. pardina) I am disposed to regard as a distinct species on account of the form of its skull. When the skull is seen 1 No. 4504 A in the museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons. |